After the leaks and what have you, Granit Xhaka has been confirmed as Arsenal’s first signing for the 2016/17 season. The club went through the entire 2015/16 campaign without signing an outfield player and some frailties were exposed yet again in some playing positions.
Xhaka was in the 2015/16 Bundesliga Team of the Season for his performances and in his 108 Bundesliga games in the course of four seasons with Borussia Monchengladbach, he scored nine goals, created 70 chances, fired 106 shots, made 227 inteceptions, 244 tackles and 41 blocks. He also had a passing accuracy of 85.3%. He had some nice things to say in his first interview with the club,
I like so [Arsenal] much. I like the style of football [in the Premier League]. It’s aggressive and I like the way Arsenal play football. It’s not like other countries but it’s very, very nice here.
He also had a nice photo shoot session with the new home kit and the club even did a quiz about him. Losing Mikel Arteta, Mathieu Flamini and Tomas Rosicky created a void in Arsenal’s midfield and in Xhaka, the Gunners have found a specialist DM that can do the business effectively with the likes of Francis Coquelin and Mohamed Elneny providing support.
The question remains – are there more signings to come? There is a lot of time between today and September for the Gunners to conduct their business in the transfer window and I’m hopeful that the club would sign a striker and a central defender if they want to really compete in the forthcoming season. Buying a center back might not be a priority with the presence of four recognized center halves in the club but signing a striker should be Wenger’s next priority!
We will keep you updated as the stories develop.
Sayonara
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